Wayne Rooney admitted he wants the England captaincy full-time after leading his country to a 5-0 thrashing of San Marino on Friday night.
Manchester United striker Rooney celebrated skippering the Three Lions on home soil for the first time by scoring twice to move to fifth in their all-time leading scorer list. The 26-year-old will return the armband to Steven Gerrard for Tuesday's trip to Poland but made it clear he would love to succeed his fellow Liverpudlian in the role.
He said: "If you can get the opportunity to captain your country, it's something which I think - as a player - you need to grab with both hands. In the future, hopefully that'll happen. But, at the minute, Steven's our captain and he'll lead by example for us."
Friday night was not the first time Rooney had skippered England but it was the first at Wembley.
"To actually lead a team out, you look up, you see the crowd and - the atmosphere - it's quite a feeling," he added. "To captain your country at Wembley is the greatest honour you can have.
"It's something that, as a young boy, you dream of and to actually do it is a great honour for me something which I'll take and cherish for the rest of my life."
That included keeping hold of the armband from the game. "It's a great honour which I'll keep forever," said Rooney, revealing he did not do the same with his shirt, which would have been a prize souvenir for the San Marino squad.
"I gave it to one of the players," he added. "I've given my shorts as well. That's a first. It's a great opportunity for them to come to play at Wembley in front of 86,000 fans."
Source: PA
